Captive Minds
by Mischief's Angel
Summary: CA:TWS SPOILERS! Katya had spent seven years searching for the Winter Soldier. She wasn't even certain he still existed, until she found him. Her problem, he has no idea who she is. She'll have to help the brainwiped ex-HYDRA assassin remember who he was and restore him from a weapon back into the man he once was. How hard could that be? Post CA:TWS Winter Soldier/Bucky BarnesxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, everyone. Mischief's Angel here. So, I went to go see Captain America: the Winter Soldier yesterday. It was SO GOOD! If you haven't seen it yet, go see it right now! And hint: stay until the END of the credits. I really wanted to write a fic based off of the MCU rendition of the Winter Soldier, who was played by the amazing Romanian hottie Sebastian Stan. Disclaimer: this fic contains SPOILERS! I do not own Captain America or (unfortunately) the Winter Soldier. Nor do I own anything Marvel. The only thing I do own is the storyline and Katya (my OC). Anyway, please read and review (I LOVE feedback, so tell me what you think). Oh, and please no hate. No one likes a hater. Hope you like it! :-)**

**PS. Sorry for any typos or errors. I'm the queen of typos!**

Chapter 1: 

The United States of America, also known as the center of all things abnormal in the past two years. Since the destruction of both HYDRA and SHIELD, it wasn't difficult to find an easy route into the country. After all, if she wanted to pass over borders unnoticed, than she would pass over borders unnoticed. Not much could ever slow her down when she had a mission in mind. She mentally cringed at the thought of the term "mission" when it flashed through her head. This was not one of her old "missions" this was more than that. This was closure. With so much uncertainty, she needed some semblance of closure. She had done so much and left so many doors open that it would feel good to close a few. The first door just happened to be in washington DC. She walked silently through a gathered crowd at one of the many Smithsonian Institution Museums. She was there to see one exhibit. This wasn't part of her business. This exhibit was strictly research to sate her own curiosity about a face long passed. The large sign read "Captain America" as though people couldn't tell what the exhibit was by all of the massive pictures of the soldier everywhere. She looked at the photos of the World War II Howling Commandos unit. The only one that captured her interest: Sergeant James Barnes of the 107th. The official statement said that he was the only member of the howling commandos to give his life for his country. She had never known the "official statement" to be true since before SHIELD was founded.

She looked at the display that honored the fallen hero. The picture didn't look familiar. Had she not known better, she would have brushed it off and walked away. The only thing keeping her where she stood was the eyes. The soldier's eyes, so full of hope at the idea of victory and freedom, resonated in her mind. It couldn't be. The hazel brown eyes couldn't be the same image that had haunted her daily for the past seven years. It was the only thing she could clearly remember from her encounter with a stranger. Hazel eyes filled not with hope or victory, but rather with pain and hate. It was only a rumor that the stranger had known Captain America. She looked everywhere for some thread of truth. A thread that she could use to find him. Now, this, this was ridiculous. She sighed in defeat. There couldn't possibly be any truth here. Her closest lead died in the 1940s. Now all she had was the haunting stare. It was always in her head. It haunted her to the brink of madness. Now there was no closure. There was no escape. If the Winter Soldier didn't want to be found, then there was no way on this earth that she could find him. She'd just have to wait for the impossibility that one day he would make a mistake. That he would leave a trail.

Even with all her training, she couldn't find something out of nothing. She shoved her hands in her pockets and turned away. As she started forward her left shoulder smacked into a tall figure. She muttered an apology. The man just looked down at her with a blank glare. From beneath the bill of the old ball-cap the man wore, she could see it. The same look she had seen over and over again in her head. She shook it off as the man turned his gaze to the display she had been previously studying. She stepped back, but never stopped watching him. His facial expression was unreadable as he gazed at the picture of the fallen soldier. After a moment, she saw him look over his shoulder, as if he were expecting to see someone following her. She willed herself to look away, but she couldn't. When he saw that she still stared at him, he pushed his way through the crowd toward the exit. "On the run from someone, pal?" she sighed to herself. She had seen this situation before. She followed him out of the building as covertly as she could. When she was finally outside, she saw him standing by the road, looking at her. However, it was the glint of sunlight off of his wrist that caught her attention. Not the kind that would be seen from a watch, but the kind that suggested armoring under the sleeve of his old jacket. If this truly was who she was after, he would have recognized her by now. As quickly as she could come to that realization, he had taken off down the street. Running. Gosh, she really hated it when they ran! Why can't these spy types ever just walk?! She elected an alternate route, her car.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, a huge thank you for people who left reviews. Feedback makes me really happy. Also, I write more when I know people like the random stuff I write. You're all wonderful! **

**~Mischief's Angel **

Chapter 2:

So, the car was a really risky move, and she knew it. She pulled around the corners so quickly that the tires squealed in protest. She had this one chance and there was no way to run this guy down on foot. Not even if she was a good runner, which...she wasn't. "If I lose him now, I swear I'll-" she started. She was interrupted by the tires straining to try to pull the car forward. She wasn't moving. She looked out the back window to see her intended target holding the back of her car in place. He had found her instead. "Yeah, that's very not good!" she grunted as she took her foot off of the gas pedal. She sat in her car, internally freaking out, but showing little sign of it. She was startled by the tapping of metal against the passenger side window. She casually hit the button to roll the window down.

"Hello," she said with a sigh, staring forward rather than at the rather large, intimidating angry guy at the window.

"Who are you?!" he questioned, with a tone of voice that demanded a response.

"Wait...what?" she responded, throwing her surprised gaze his direction, "What do you mean who am I?"

"Why are you following me?!" he demanded, continuing his questioning.

"Not again..." she sighed, "Do you really want to know?"

No response. She reached over and pushed the passenger side door open.

"If you want answers, get in!" she stated plainly, "By now, you know I'm in no position to hurt you. Not by myself. Worst case, you can get away from me pretty easily. If you don't get in, you can keep running with no where to go and no idea who you are."

She could tell that he was conflicted about the option she'd presented. His other option wasn't a great plan, so he angrily got in the car and slammed the door so hard, she thought it would shatter.

"Where are you going?" he asked, just over a growl.

"Anywhere that's not here," she answered as she looked around and then slammed on the gas again.

"How do you know who I am?"

"Technically...I don't."

"Why were you following me?"

"Kinda hard to explain."

"Is there anything you can tell me?!" he asked growing increasingly irritated.

"You know me," she stated, "If you don't know that, then the rest won't make sense anyway."

"I don't know you."

"Well, you don't now, but you did once," she admitted, "I know that sounds weird, but it's the truth. You must have remembered too much. I suspect HYDRA didn't like that. Looks like they wiped your memory again."

"What do you know about HYDRA?!"

"Okay, first things first. Calm down. HYDRA is dead! Gone. Finished. So is SHIELD. No one's monitoring you. If you're lucky, everyone probably thinks you died with them." "If they're gone then-"

"Then you're free. Kind of a bittersweet feeling, isn't it?"

They sat in silence for a time. The assassin stared out the front window so intensely, she thought it would break...or burst into flames, if that was even possible.

"My name is Katya."

No response.

"Just in case you were wondering..." she said, her voice fading out.

No answer.

"So, it's like that?"

She just continued to drive. She couldn't help but imagine what HYDRA had put this man through. She had learned some of the truth, but there was so much information that was kept buried deep in the system. Maybe it was for the best. That kind of information needed to disappear. She just wished that the Winter Soldier's identity hadn't disappeared with it. She found herself drifting into thoughts about the first time she had met the HYDRA cyborg. It had been on more sever terms than this for sure. She considered talking to him about, to see if she could spark some memory. She was pulled from her thoughts by another question.

"I don't remember you because they took my memories away?"

"In a way. The procedure was meant to remove memories, but further research suggests that it really only suppressed them. The difference is, if they're supressed, they're still there. All we have to do is get them back out. How hard could it be, right?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, wnderful people who have read this far. I know that the last chapter was fairly short. I had a very limited window of time in which to update the fic. Plus I try not to make the chapters too long. I lose interest if I read a fic with super long chapters. This one will be significantly longer. **

**In other news, I'm trying to determine what direction to go with this particular story. It will get dramatic and slightly angsty, but I can't decide whether to continue on with that for the entire story, or if I should give Bucky the lighter, happier recovery that I've wanted him to have since I saw that dumb TOTALLY AWESOME movie! I'll just admit, I wanted to hug him SO badly! Anyway, long story short, message me or leave a review with ideas or preferences. Until then, enjoy this next chapter.**

**~Mischief's Angel**

Chapter 3:

"If they are still there, you can help me remember who I was?" he asked, distantly.

"Yes." Katya answered hopefully.

"How?"

"I have no idea..." she admitted.

The conversation ended when the soldier straightened in his seat and stayed there silently...again.

"You know, this car ride is going to be awkward if you keep shutting down everytime we don't have an answer," Katya sighed, pulling off of the main road onto one with less traffic.

"I don't function without the information I need," he answered after a long pause.

"How very mechanical of you," she scoffed, "Now that we have a chance to talk again, i'm shocked that I didn't recognize you sooner. You're still a straight forward agent with preprogrammed ideas. Has it even occurred to you that you can figure things out on your own?"

"I...I think I was someone called Bucky," he said, stuggling to remeber anything that he could.

"James Barnes, aka Bucky," she reiterated, "That's why you were at the museum. I got a similar lead, so that's why I was there. It was rather difficult considering that every time we met I couldn't see your face."

The soldier pulled off the old hat and scarfthat he had been using to hide most of his face.

Katya pulled over off the side of the road, and just looked at him for a while.

"What...?" he asked hesitently and with a hint of irritation.

"You have to be him. Either that or you're related to him," she stated, unsure of how she'd missed that before.

"You didn't recognize me, but you chased me out of the museum?" he asked, more confused than irritated now.

"I had a hunch. It was pretty clear when you flipped out and ran. Even then I wasn't one-hundred percent certain. I didn't have very much to go on. When we met, you were wearing that creepy face mask thing. You know, the one that scares the living heck out of whoever sees you," she said, chuckling dryly at the last bit.

"The goal was for no one to see me."

"Pretty successful in hindsight. You're good at dissapearing. Although, even with the jacket, the metal arm kinda gives it away," she continued, attempting at humor, but that clearly wasn't working out. "How'd you know where to look for yourself at the museum."

"I was told who I was by someone that I think I knew. He wouldn't stop calling me "Bucky". I'm not sure-"

"Wait!" she said, "There's someone that knows who you are, and you haven't thought to ask him all these questions?!"

"I thought about it," he answered grimly.

"Do you know who he is?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Yes."

"Are you beginning to see the problem here?"

"No."

"Well, why the heck aren't you going to him? He's not HYDRA is he?" she asked, cautiously when it came to the second part.

"No," he answered, tensing up at the very thought of HYDRA, "He was my last target. I was supposed to kill him, but I failed. He...he said that he wouldn't fight me because I was his friend."

"Did you run?" Katya wondered.

"I didn't know what to do. I walked away and, until the museum, I didn't stop."

"I am going to assume that you didn't fight in a worn out hoody. So, just to clarify, I don't need or want to know where you got the extra clothes," she said, gesturing to his rather random looking wardrobe.

"He wasn't lying. He knew me." Bucky said, as if thinking out loud.

"Ah, so you know that he actually knew you, and you still aren't going to him?" she reiterated, clearly confused by his reasoning.

No answer...again. At this point, the silences were beginning to grate on Katya's nerves, but she could be patient. If anyone needed someone to be patient with them, it was probably this guy.

After a while, even that excuse didn't sit well. Katya reached forward and started the car again. She pulled back onto the road.

"Where are we going?" Bucky (whom it was still weird to refer to as such, because it didn't quite fit) grumbled.

"We're going to go find this person!" she stated, as though she were on a self-assigned mission, "And he's going to help us answer some questions!"

"No!" Bucky protested, so suddenly that it was startling.

"You got a better idea?!" she asked rhetorically, in an agrivated tone.

"Why are you so determined to help me?"

"Because I was your friend too!" Katya said, almost as though she were still accepting that fact herself, " I couldn't help you before, but I can now! And, darn it, Barnes, I am going to help whether you like it or not!"

"Okay," he muttered, with a confused expression, "But we're making another stop first."

"Fine," she sighed, calming down a bit, "Who is this guy we're looking for, anyway?"

"Captain America."


End file.
